Bush Declares National Emergecy: Syria & Lebanon

Executive Order: Blocking Property of Persons Undermining the Sovereignty of Lebanon or Its Democratic Processes and Institutions

I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, determine that the actions of certain persons to undermine Lebanon's legitimate and
democratically elected government or democratic institutions, to contribute to the deliberate breakdown in the rule of law in Lebanon, including
through politically motivated violence and intimidation, to reassert Syrian control or contribute to Syrian interference in Lebanon, or to infringe
upon or undermine Lebanese sovereignty contribute to political and economic instability in that country and the region and constitute an unusual and
extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States, and I hereby declare a national emergency to deal with that
threat.

So, if I understand this correctly, Syria is threatening Lebanon and as a result national emergency is declared in the U.S.A.? So the administration
is going to start freezing the assets of those it deems involved in undermining Lebanon's democracy.

“The French are working in Lebanon to try to construct a national unity government. Syria is on record as supporting the French initiative. The Bush
Administration is trying to block National Unity and continue with its strategy to destabilize the region by targeting Syria and Iran, instead of
seeking diplomatic resolution.

"Certainly Iran and Syria are the principle sponsors, I would say, of both efforts to undermine the government in Lebanon and efforts to promote
militia violence ... and the other things we've talked about in Iraq," he said.

Certainly something to pay attention to, but is this really something that we need to declare national emergency over? Ever since that Presidential
Directive NSPD 51 the talk of national emegency makes me shudder a little.

ETA: that last quote on the Al Jezeera site is from Tom Casey, state department spokesman.

Well, NSPD 51 says that in a catastrophic emergency Bush will be in
charge of coordinating the entire government. And it will fall to him to make sure that the Constitution is preserved.

(e) "Enduring Constitutional Government," or "ECG," means a cooperative effort among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the
Federal Government, coordinated by the President, as a matter of comity with respect to the legislative and judicial branches and with proper respect
for the constitutional separation of powers among the branches, to preserve the constitutional framework under which the Nation is governed and the
capability of all three branches of government to execute constitutional responsibilities and provide for orderly succession, appropriate transition
of leadership, and interoperability and support of the National Essential Functions during a catastrophic emergency;

BUT, this national emergency that has currently been declared was not the result of a catastrophic event. So it's not happened yet. I was just
making the point that the language he used is a little scary.

You can lose your property and assets in the US and possibly your rights to be in the United States if you are shown to be supporting Syrian
controlled violence against the Lebanese government, or if you have assets that have been frozen outside the United States for supporting violence
against the Lebanese government. Other than that Bush gains no powers, won't stay in office any longer, or anything else.

Originally posted by Zaphod58
You can lose your property and assets in the US and possibly your rights to be in the United States if you are shown to be supporting Syrian
controlled violence against the Lebanese government, or if you have assets that have been frozen outside the United States for supporting violence
against the Lebanese government. Other than that Bush gains no powers, won't stay in office any longer, or anything else.

If I read it right, that's not the directive he's talking about. He's talking about the one that gives Bush sole power in the event of a national
emergency. All that needs to happen is another 9/11 or some other event which Bush determines to be a national emergency, and Bush becomes the one who
decides everything; Congress and Senate would have no input and would basically cease to exist.

Under THIS directive, which I took to be the one that ubercarnist was asking about, those are the only things that will be applied. This ONLY applies
to people involved in violence against the Lebanese government, and does nothing to help Bush stay in power.

He has no right to do this, none whatsoever. In effect he is guaranteeing Lebanese sovereignty which the last I heard the Lebanese government had not
invited him to do, which without their approval is in essence a violation of their sovereignty.

With our military stretched as thin as it is it is a hollow gesture to begin with and should he try to start yet another front in this endless war, he
will be doing nothing more than playing into l Qaeda's hands and becoming their number one recruiter.

can someone explain to me just what is so important in lebanon that anything that could happen there would cause a national emergency in the states??
I'm confused....what do they import to us that if the source was lost, would cause havoc in our economy? just what does syria, lebanon, or most of
the middle east have that would really pose a threat to the mainland...outside of the crazy religously brainwashed that seem to abound throughout the
area now, but also cross our border without much problems.
cry wolf one too many times, and well, no one will take your seriously when the wolf rampages.....they are crying national emergency when one doesn't
exist, at least not in lebanon...now if one was to look at the economic picture, well, there might be something there to declare an emergency
over...

our government is being run by the fruitiest of the fruitcakes I think.

The IEEPA authorizes the president to declare the existence of an "unusual and extraordinary threat... to the national security, foreign policy, or
economy of the United States" that originates "in whole or substantial part outside the United States." It further authorizes the president, after
such a declaration, to block transactions and freeze assets to deal with the threat. In the event of an actual attack on the United States, the
president can also confiscate property connected with a country, group, or person that aided in the attack.

Apparently it happens all the time and is not as big a deal as it sounds.

It also imposes certain "procedural formalities" on the President when invoking such powers, and provides a means for Congress to countermand a
Presidential declaration of emergency and associated use of emergency powers

It is somewhat unnerving that the president can sign an executive order and possible set himself up as "President for life," but I don't believe
that is what Bush has in mind. (Cheney may be a different story.) When our country is attacked again, chaos may reign, and martial law may be called
for. (I hope not.) Order 51 is necessary.
As for seizing assets of those who support our enemies, as was mentioned earlier, it's been done beforE We froze Iran's assests when they held
American citizens hostage for 444 days.
What is troublesome to me is the EO that allows the government to sieze the assests of American citizens who publicly desent against the war. What
happened to freedom of speech?

Hello folks. I'd like to point you to a discussion thread on this topic that you may
find useful. the Bush administration hs done more to advance Executive power than most of us realize. Order #51 deserves a lot of close study.

Originally posted by dawnstar
can someone explain to me just what is so important in lebanon that anything that could happen there would cause a national emergency in the states??

Just because we don't have trading ties with them doesn't mean that Lebanon's security isn't important to the US.

For one thing, we are essentially fighting a proxy war against Iran and Syria in Lebanon. If Hezbollah is allowed to rise up the stability of the
entire Middle East could be threatened, and that ultimately means oil prices will rise dramatically. We are living in a global economy where the
failure of one nation could mean the collapse of the dollar.

Lebanon has very important secular groups all fighting for power. A large scale civil war would have reverberations across the Middle East. Also we
can not forget of its strategic location essentially in the Middle of the entire world. If the US could establish a democratic ally in Lebanon it
would go along way towards securing oil dominance.

Besides, good intentioned or bad, would Bush really do something without some sort of operational intelligence?

Originally posted by grover
He has no right to do this, none whatsoever. In effect he is guaranteeing Lebanese sovereignty which the last I heard the Lebanese government had not
invited him to do, which without their approval is in essence a violation of their sovereignty.

If you remember correctly from his speech, he doesn't even know what the word "sovereign" means. Bush certainly didn't write this executive order
or even think it up. Someone else in his administration is benefiting from this.

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